We are the crusaders!
by Oblivion walker
Summary: Three young men make there way to Haven Academy to start their new school life but little did they know fate had other ideas... will deviate from canon
1. Prologue

Hello everyone and welcome to my new fanfic. its been a while and I do plan on finishing Accursed ones but a recent conversation with two of my friends gave me inspiration to write this. This first chapter will introducing our OCs. Any constructive criticism is much welcome and I hope you like our OCs! Also as of writing this it is currently September 20th and I likely wont be uploading this chapter until I'm happy with it, so if I upload this after volume five starts this story will heavily deviate from canon

 _We are the crusaders: prologue_

 _Somewhere in mistral_

It was a quiet sunny morning on the streets of a small town in mistral. Birds were chattering and the streets were livened up by people scattered around completing their morning errands, everything was peaceful until the noise of an engine of a motorcycle as it raced through the streets recklessly. The driver had a smile on his mouth and earphones in his ears with music blaring so loud he couldn't hear the curses of the people he rushed passed as they tried to cross the road. He was wearing slightly ripped blue jeans tucked into a pair of short boots with the laces tied up halfway up them. On his body he was wearing a slightly loose black vest with a yellow tropical shirt with blue floral pattern flapping in the wind as if it were a cape. Around his neck he had a dog tag that reads "Zack Dreamer". His earlobe length hair flowing in the wind alongside his tropical shirt. his eyes were covered by his sunglasses he was wearing. He was currently heading towards Haven Academy having been accepted there a couple of months ago. He chose to go to Haven because the last school he went to would not allow him to return due to "reckless and disruptive behaviour" and his foster father Declan forced him to so he can further learn to fight and learn the values of teamwork and friendship. Thus Zack took the family motorcycle and made tracks for his destination, Haven Academy.

 _Elsewhere, closer to haven._

The sunlight was barely making it through the gaps in the trees in this deep forest. As a fairly tall well build young man wearing a dark t-shirt with a black hoodie with green and white lining. He was wearing dark cargo shorts with similar lining to the hoodie with black combat boots with similar coloured knee pads above them. He also had scruffy black hair with hazel eyes. He was currently making his way towards Haven academy ready for his second year at an Academy, the Academy he originally went to didn't suit him so he enrolled as an exchange student to Haven.

He was currently taking in the scenery enjoying it more then he would lead you to believe where he was halted by a voice shouting. "Please help me!" A female voice cried. The young man sighed and made his way towards the voice past some bushes until he found the source of the pleas for help, it was a woman being assaulted by a large man much larger than the young man. "quit ya squirming it'll be over before ya know it!" He commanded but the woman would not comply. She turned her head to the left to see the young man about 11 feet from them. She reached out to him and called out to him "please help me!" The larger man saw what she was doing and stood and turned to the young man and spoke in a booming voice, "you there, kid! Move along and forget you saw anything or else!" The young man said nothing to him and started to talk to himself. _"you should save her"_ a voice inside his head said "I shouldn't get involved" he said out loud to the voice inside his head. "Huh!" The larger man said exclaimed, clearly annoyed. _"you cant just ignore her"_ the voice said calmly. "I know" the young man responded not noticing that the larger man approached him "you talkin' to yourself?" He asked in a booming voice "what a freak!" He said as he pushed the young man to the ground. _"don't do it"_ the voice said. The young man contemplated the command but didn't listen, "fuck it!" He mumbled under his breath.

He put his hands in his pockets briefly before pulling them out to reveal two chrome coloured gauntlets and used his left one to crack the larger man across the jaw sending him reeling back a few feet away from the young man. The larger man huffed and pulled out a baton which transformed into a larger club. "you'll pay for that runt" he cried as he charged toward the young man. _"you should end this quickly"_ the voice told the young man, "yeah" he said in response as his eyes changed to a darker orange colour. The young man charged at the man as well as all of a sudden drills on each side of his gauntlets erected from them he then drove his hand into the larger mans chest as the drills span at a rapid pace. The larger man cried out in pain and dropped his weapon as the drills continued to spin. after a split second the mans aura gave out and the young man used this opportunity to reel back and deliver a huge punch, drill and all into the mans chest and sent him flying into the bushes. The young man calmed down and the colour in his eyes died down to its normal hazel colour.

"um, excuse me? Thank you so much for getting rid of him is there anything I can do to repay you?" The woman approached him and asked. He immediately turned his head to her causing her to flinch, "you can thank me by leaving me alone" he said quietly "you best leave now he may come to soon" he added. "can you at least tell me your name before I leave?" She pleaded. This caused the young man to sigh deeply, "Finnian. Finnian Thorn" he sad before turning and continuing on his way. As he gained some distance he heard her call out to him "thank you Finnian Thorn!" She shouted before running off. She didn't see it but he had a small smile on his lips.

 _Elsewhere..._

In a small town in mistral laid a small house on the outskirts of the town. Inside that house a someone was packing his belongings into a large bag. He was packing the essentials, his clothes, scroll, toiletries and other things he just wanted to take including a small picture of himself with what looked to be three of his friends. He then smiled at the picture and placed it in a pocket of his bag and zipped it up to show his name on the front of the bag "Salvador Steel" it reads. He then looked at himself in his large mirror in the corner of his room. He was wearing a green sweater with brown trousers tucked into black boots that went up to his knees. He then looks at his face, he had long brown hair that was swept back and went down to the middle of his neck he also had a blonde streak in the left side of his hair. He looked into his brown eyes and huffed and put on a false smile as a knock came on his door. "Sal?" A female voice called to him. "come in mother" he replied grabbing his bag and saddling it around his shoulder. His mother entered the room "how are you feeling honey?" She asked with a concerned look on her face. "I'm feeling great mother, fresh new school, fresh new start" he said with a smile. "well I'm glad to hear that. But as much as I'd like to keep you here you should get going, your new school awaits you" she said with a proud smile. Salvador then left his house and proceeded on to the local train station that would take him in the direction of Haven Academy.

 **And so these three young men made their way to Haven Academy not knowing that fate had certain plans for them.**

 **To be continued**...


	2. Salvador short

Hello everyone I'm writing this after I uploaded the prologue and it reached 24 views and 2 follows I'm so exited right now I couldn't contain myself and I had to start on this chapter right now. Just to let everyone know I will be completely disregarding volume five's plot altogether although I might incorporate some elements from the story if I see something that might be interesting in this story. The next couple of chapters will be going further into the characters journey to Haven before I start on the likes of team RNJR, Yang and possibly Wiess and Blake. But enough rambling on with the story.

 _We are the Crusaders: Salvador short_

It was raining. Heavily at that Sal was sitting in the third carriage of the Haven-bound train. His face was pressed against the window so much his cheek was squished against it. In truth he was completely spaced out not even paying attention to the gorgeous view in front of his very eyes in fact his mind was also elsewhere.

 _Over a year ago_

It was raining. Heavily at that. Sal hated the rain, it always had a slight metallic scent to it and he hated it. Because of this he was bored out of his mind and had his face pressed up against the window. "hey man, what's with the solemn look?" Sal looked over to see his good friend Aaron. Aaron stood at least a whole head above Sal and had darker skin than him. He was wearing light black armour with yellow lining he had armour going down both arms although on his left arm the armour is much smaller and stops at his elbow signifying that his dominant arm was in fact his left arm. To further emphasize this he had his sword on his right and had armour on his right leg but none on his left showing the kind of stance he uses in battle. "hey Aaron nothing's wrong I'm just sooo boorreedd!" He complained emphasizing the "D" in that last word. "come on man wanna play some video games?" He said gesturing towards the gaming console they had in their dorm. "nah I'm just not feeling up to anything today man" he said and continued to stare out the window but this didn't last long as a booming voice encompassed the dorm. " **what's that our dashing leader doesn't want to play video games that's a first, HAR-HAR"** the booming female voice echoed throughout the dorm. "I'm just not feeling up to it today Fae" he said to her and continued to sulk.

Fae stood a few inches shorter than Sal with a head full of fiery red hair and striking Orange eyes. For some odd reason everywhere she goes she would always wear the same dusty old trench coat over a black tracksuit. And for an even odder reason her weapon was a battle axe that is also a guitar. Why she made it into a guitar? no one knows, not even Sal himself. The self proclaimed second in command always carried herself with a strong sense of dignity and arrogance and would always be the one to give pep talks to Sal and the others when they were down. although most of it would come off as loud noise to most people to Sal and the rest of his team it was sincere.

Speaking of the rest of his team the final member of his team gingerly walked into the room, it was Emma. Emma has short brown hair with beautiful pink eyes. She was wearing standard light armour that has a silver tint to it and underneath she is wearing light cyan coloured clothes. She stood quite a bit shorter than Sal and often had a timid posture whenever you see her. "um Salvador are you feeling ok?" She asked meekly. "yeah Emma, I'm perfectly fine" he assured.

Despite his assurance none of them were buying it and decided to pester him about it. "come on you know that's not true. Do you think we're a bunch'a Dumbasses!" Aaron exclaimed. Sal sighs "alright fine! You broke me, ill tell you if you stop talking" he turned to face them and huffed. "we're listening" Emma spoke up. "ok..." Sal spoke "so recently I've been questioning my place in the world" he explained. "what do you mean?" Fae asked confused. "what I mean I, I don't know if this is the place I should be or what I'm meant to do in the future. I just don't know what I should do."

" **HAR-HAR is that it?!"** Fae boomed causing Sal to flinch "you know that know matter what you do in life we'll support you" Aaron added. "yeah we are with you Salvador!" Emma said in a surprisingly chipper tone. All this caused Sal to look to the ground and smile, "thanks you guys I feel much better now" he spoke up still looking at the floor. "great now how about some video games?" Aaron pestered. "you know what? Sure why not?" Sal said standing up and walking over to the tv with Aaron in tow.

 _Present day_

Sal smiled at the memory. Finally taken out of his funk he listened to the driver announcing the upcoming station. Realising he wasn't even half way there he decided to sleep through the rest of the journey.

Haven was just that much closer

 **To be continued...**


	3. Finnian short

We are the Crusaders: Finnian short

It was a quiet evening and the sun was starting to set and Finnian was getting much closer to Haven at this point he had been walking non-stop for hours on end only stopping to help a young woman from an assault. Whilst reminiscing on that fight with the large man he spared no notice to the fact that he had come across a gate. Stopping dead in his tracks he looked from right to left and saw that the walls surrounding the gate stretched far off into the distance.

 _"judging by the locked gate I'd say this is an abandoned village"_ the voice in his head said after analysing the situation. "yeah no shit" Finnian muttered to himself. "well best way to go about this is to jump the gate and walk through I guess" he said to himself. And with a huff he climbed the gate dropped off on the other side. Finnian walked briskly through the village, not wanting to attract any nearby grimm that may be inhabiting the village. Whilst walking along the path something glistened in the distance. Interest peaked he made his way over to the source. It was a picture, a picture of a happy family. This caused Finnian to reminisce on the past, despite how painful it can be.

 _11 years ago_

"mama! Mama! Look at the shiny rocks I found!" A young Finnian jumped up and down in excitement. "IDIOT BOY STOP WITH YOUR INCESSENT JUMPING, and throw that damn rock away you have better things to be doing with your time than digging through the dirt." She screamed at him. Finnian walked away clearly downtrodden as his mother mumbled under her breath "foolish boy" she muttered extremely annoyed at her son's antics yet she continued with whatever she was doing.

 _1 year later_

Finnian was yet again digging around for some shiny rocks in the ground, having already gathered a small pile of shiny rocks. He smiled to himself as he found yet another for his collection. Satisfied he gathered them up and started to walk off until he saw his father walking on the outskirts of town, likely off to gather some wood for the pyres for the village harvest festival. Deciding that this could be a chance to try and connect with his father unlike his mother who constantly disregards him as an "idiot boy".

Taking the opportunity, he decided to follow his father, shiny rocks in hand. He didn't get far into the forest before he saw his father just standing there, wood dropped on the floor. "Papa? Is something the matter?" He called out to his father. He looked past his father to see a Beowulf staring back at him. Suddenly his father turned to face him, "BOY! Go to the village and get a huntsman! NOW!" Finnian didn't budge however and just grabbed his Father's hand "NO! We need to go together!" He cried as he tried to drag his father with him. However, his father just ripped his hand away and kicked his own son in the chest knocking him down and sending his shiny rocks across the ground. "USELESS BOY! I DON'T NEED YOU! I NEED A HUNTSMAN! NOT A FOOLISH BOY WHO CAN'T EVEN DEFEND HIMSELF" he screamed at the young boy as the Beowulf approached.

Finnian looked at the scattered rocks and took everything his father said in but little did he know something was about to awaken inside him. _"well it's about damn time you awakened GEEZ! Can I kill now?"_ A voice in his head spoke. "who's there?!" Finnian cried. _"as much as I hate to agree with him, he's right. You need to make a stand for yourself right now"_ another voice spoke. Before he could speak up he noticed his father running in the other direction. His own father had just betrayed him and ran away like a coward.

Before Finnian could even call out to his father the Beowulf let out a roar and charged at the boy. He stumbled back and fell on his back. "no please!" He cried as he held his hand out to try and stop the Beowulf but just before it reached him a red arm appeared in front of Finnian and delivered a huge punch to the Grimm's jaw sending it flying to the right. _Quickly! Take advantage of the situation!"_ The more composed of the two voices commanded.

As if his body moved on its own he got up and ran over to the downed Grimm and proceeded to continuously punch the Beowulf. But at the same time two red arms continuously decked the Grimm until the grim exploded into smoke before his very eyes. Finnian was a mess he was uncontrollably crying and holding his head due to the severe pain from just unlocking his aura and going all out with his semblance.

After a short while he heard rapid footsteps behind him and he turned his head to see the local head huntsman, Damien grey. Damien couldn't believe what he was seeing the kid had some kind of red ghost hovering behind him. _"must be his semblance_ " Damien thought to himself as he approached the boy and rested a hand on his shoulder. "it's ok kid you're safe now" he said quietly with a smile on his face.

 _Present day_

Damien would go on to train Finnian to use his aura, semblance and hand to hand combat, which was at Finnian's request actually. After that moment with the Beowulf Finnian always felt as though he were too big for the village. So, he decided at the age of 7 to attend a huntsman's Academy to further hone his craft and finally prove his father wrong.

Finnian decided it was best to move on from the abandoned village and make tracks towards Haven he was only about 3 quarters of the way there and he thought since he e=was so close he might as well try and get there by the morning, so he set off in anticipation for the fresh new start he would get in Haven.

 **To be continued...**


	4. Zack short

We are the crusaders! Zack short

Zack rode through Mistral without a care in the world. He was enjoying the wind that rushed past his face and through his hair, and he was content enough right now for not wanting to stop it. He'd just refuelled in the last town he passed through not too long ago, and he was currently passing through a stretch of flat land when he spotted something in the distance. Closing the distance, he could make out the sign of what he supposed was a bar named 'Will's'.

And it was open for business despite the time. Zack slowed down and entertained the thought of getting a drink.

"Ah, screw it, why not?"

He pulled towards the bar, found a place to park his motorcycle, and he noted that the parking lot was almost full of all manner of vehicles. Weird.

As he walked through the door, he saw that the place was filled with a bunch of shady-looking people (he knew he was judging a book by its cover, but sometimes even that didn't hit too far off the mark). Ignoring them, he waltzed on to the bar and sat down at one of the stools.

"What can I get ya?" The bartender said with a gruff voice.  
"Do you do Hemingway daiquiris?" The bartender nodded.  
"Good. I'll have that then." Zack put a Lien card down and pulled out his personal scroll to check through it.

The bartender mixed the drink and placed it next to Zack, who grabbed it still looking at his scroll, and started to drink.

On the other side of the bar, a large man stood up and made his way to Zack, reeking of ill intent. This did not go unnoticed, of course, but Zack had an unbearable urge to sigh.

Really? He'd had his scroll out for at least ten minutes! Did it really take that long for bandits to man up these days? The man stopped in front of him and spoke up in a voice that Zack supposed was meant to be a nice one. He swallowed his nausea and looked the other man in the eye.

"That's a mighty fine gadget you got there." He said, staring Zack down with a sneer that Zack thought was meant to be threatening.  
"Yeah, it is, and I worked hard to earn it. Do you mind moving a bit? You're blocking my light." He replied, looking back down at his scroll.  
"I'll take that." The big man said simply. Well, Zack decided, at least that was straightforward. It'd have been infinitely more of a pain if the guy decided to go the 'con-man' route. It was a lot messier and usually ended with someone being smeared across a surface like horrific strawberry jam.

As it was, Zack just sighed and stood up, slipped his scroll into the pocket of his jeans, and downed his drink in a gulp, setting the glass on the table.

"Will you now?" He said, looking up at the man with what he hoped was a bored glare and brave expression.

"Who says I can't just take it? " The man said raising his voice and causing people to look at them both, and Zack couldn't help but chuckle. This seemed to irritate the man, who slammed his fist on the bar causing the drinks on the bar to shake and making the rest of the place look at them.

"Don't mock me kid!" He shouted, balling his fist. Zack noticed this and when the man went for a right hook it was immediately dodged and countered with a knee to the man's stomach, who flew back a couple of feet and into a man that looked like a thug. "You spilled my drink!" The other man shouted, smashing the empty bottle over the man's head. While the chaos unfolded, one other person walked into the bar and watched, unfazed. If nobody knew better, said person might as well have been watching a Mistral Focus rerun.

When Zack's rational mind kicked in to let him look at the bar again, nearly everyone in the bar was fighting some indistinct person for some indistinct reason, much to his surprise.

"Well that escalated quickly!" He muttered, trying to back up, but he was stopped by something. He turned around to find 3 large men looming over him.  
"Feeling alright people? Enjoying the show?" He asked.

Mistake.

"You attacked our friend." The one on the left said as another cracked his knuckles.  
"Yeah, and now you will pay" The third one remarked.  
"Come on guys, we can work this out right?" Zack said backing up in the hopes he could buy some time but the 3 men started to close the distance rather quickly.

"Oh, I don't think so!" The one in the middle said.  
"Well I had to ask. Protocol and all that." Zack said, reaching behind him and grabbing a beer bottle that was on the table and cracking it over a head and then sending him back a few feet with a kick. The unknown person who just walked in turned toward this particular confrontation and watched with a peculiar interest.

Zack kept dodging attacks from the other two men-though not without difficulty, he managed to wear a smile on his face.

Zack looked to his right and saw the man he smashed the bottle over was now coming for him. Thinking fast, Zack went for a punch only for it to get caught by the man who pulled Zack towards him and held him in a full nelson, whilst another man began punching Zack in the face multiple times. Zack, thinking through the haze of the punches, realized that the face-puncher must've dropped his guard, and, scissoring his legs around the next punch, swung him into the man who was holding him and threw freed himself. The man he just threw attempted to regain his balance in a daze but Zack stomped his head down straight through a wooden chair, knocking the man clean out. Zack the turned to the final man and proceeded to give him a punt to the side of his head, knocking him unconscious as well. It was at this point that the person watching decided to intervene.

Zack was about to join another fight when a hand grabbed his wrist. He turned around to see a girl, a pretty one at that, who had light purple eyes and golden blond hair. Zack thought those eyes were hiding something, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

"It would probably be best if we leave." She said. Looking at the ongoing barfight, Zack agreed.  
"Yeah, that would be best". After leaving the bar Zack reached into his back pocket, pulled out a pack of cigarettes and put one in his mouth.  
"You're a smoker?" She asked. "Only when I'm stressed. The rush makes it go away a bit, lets me think." He said as he offered her one which she waved away.  
"I'm assuming you're the one who started that whole barfight" she stated. Zack threw up his arms in mock offence.  
"Hey I was provoked! Why don't you have someone just come up into your face and try taking your scroll?" They shared a light chuckle. Zack then noticed it was starting to get quite dark out. "Anyway, I better get going now. But first...might I get the name of the pretty lady?" He said with a small bow. "I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours" She replied. "Zack, Zack Dreamer." He said pointing at himself with a wink and a smile. He hoped it was good enough-he didn't need to drive her away or drive her mad.  
"well nice to meet you 'Zack Dreamer' I'm Yang, Yang Xiao Long." She replied. Zack chuckled. "Well I hope we meet again Miss Yang". "Me too Zack." she said with a ghost of a smile.

Zack turned and went over to his motorcycle and started it up, he gave off a quick wave before speeding off. Yang waved back and after he left her smile faltered "Well, there goes my chance of finding some information, and I'll remember this, Zack-boy." she thought to herself as she hopped on her own bike and sped off in the other way.

"Man, she sure was a looker" Zack thought to himself. "I sure hope we meet again" he thought with a smile. Zack was getting really close to Haven, and the city where Haven sat was only a couple dozen miles off. Zack might be able to stay in a hotel if he got there early. He gunned the motor, eager with anticipation for this new academy although-to be honest with himself-he was mostly excited for the girls there.


	5. Team RNJR

Hello everyone and welcome to the next step of the story! This chapter will focus on team RNJR and their arrival in Haven. For the most part this story will focus on our OCs, RNJR and Yang as I'm not sure if I'm going to include Weiss or Blake at the moment as I'm not sure how to include them into the story. Anyways let's get back into the story!

We are the Crusaders! Team RNJR

Team RNJR and Qrow were making their way up the long climb through Mistral city on the way to Haven. "soooo how long until we get there?" Nora asked Qrow in her usual chipper tone. "how many times you gonna ask that?" Qrow responded clearly annoyed. "as many times as, it takes until we get there" Nora retorted sticking her tongue out at the older man.

After a few minutes Nora asked her question again "are we there y-" Qrow cut her off "we're here!" He exclaimed pointing forward. And to Nora's surprise a massive structure came looming over the horizon. "it's beautiful!" Jaune pointed out. "yeah it is!" Ruby added. "but the question is will we find the answers we need here?" Ren pointed out to Ruby. "I hope so. It's the only lead we got" Ruby responded.

They walked up to the gates of Haven as students were passing in presenting their IDs as they did so. RNJR tried to walk through the gates but were stopped in their tracks by the guards "please present some ID" one of the guards spoke making Ruby and Jaune shrink in their places. "I, uh..." Ruby started but was stopped by Qrow's hand on her shoulder. "It's ok they're with me" Qrow said flashing a card in the guards' face. The guards then stood aside and allowed Qrow and RNJR to walk through into the academy's grounds.

The campus was brimming with life. Students walking around the grounds checking out the different classes and conversing with each other, on the other hand some people were simply scoping out the competition, seeing who would work well on their team and who would let the team down. Ruby spun around taking it all in, finally after months of travelling and fighting Grimm all their hard work was finally worth it. In truth Ruby was starting to get emotional.

Jaune, seeing her emotional state, placed a hand on her shoulder. "hey now, we made it didn't we? What's got you so glum. "sorry Jaune, I just can't help it ya know? It's just, all our hard work finally payed off". "I know what you mean." Ren said as he walked up to the two of them before continuing "but this is perhaps, just the beginning." Ruby nodded in response to Ren's comment.

Qrow then interrupted "hey you kids gonna keep being all sentimental or are ya going to come with me, there's something we need to discuss with headmaster Lionheart." He said as he continued on through the school grounds, past the students with RNJR in tow.

As they made their way through the main building of the school, Ruby and the rest of RNJR couldn't help but admire the artistic paintings scattered throughout the building. "wow, this place is so pretty" Nora beamed, "I agree!" Ren added with more enthusiasm then they expected.

As they approached the headmaster's office, the peppy, vibrancy of the rest of the building slowly deflated. The corridor narrowing, the lights dimming and the intricate design of the walls were slowly replaced by jagged, barbaric designs. Truth be told, Ruby was intimidated already. What if Lionheart was this chiselled, gruff menacing figure who towered over her and could snap her like a twig if she overstepped her boundaries.

They then stopped at the headmaster's office double doors, they had almost demonic looking carvings all over them it almost looked like a demonic painting that some cultist had made. Qrow knocked on the door which made a loud bang...

No reply...

With a sigh Qrow knocked on the door even louder. Immediately they heard crashing and a little mumbling and then a quick "hold on one moment" Ruby and Jaune spared a glance at each other, the voice behind the door sounded nothing like Ruby had expected. He didn't sound gruff or had a booming voice, in fact he had a soft voice one her father would use when reading her a bedtime story when she was a little girl.

One of the doors opened slightly to reveal a timid looking man who looked barely taller than Ruby herself. "headmaster Lionheart?" Ruby asked shyly. "yes?" The man meekly responded stepping out slightly. "LEO! Good to see ya! How ya doing?!" Qrow boisterously exclaimed slapping the older man in the back, almost making him nearly fall over in the process and waltzing into his office.

"Qrow?! What are you doing here I expected you to be on a mission right about now!" The older man exclaimed. Team RNJR then entered the room. "I am on a mission. And I need your help" Qrow got a little serious at that last part.

"m-my help? What could you possibly need of me?" Lionheart asked wondering what Qrow could possibly need that he couldn't already get. "you see this is team RNJR and I need you to enrol them into Haven Academy" he said simply. "what!?" Lionheart and RNJR exclaimed. "but uncle Qrow I thought we were going to track down cinder. We don't have time to study at this academy while she remains on the loose!" Ruby complained.

"relax kiddo you'll be here training whilst I gather information, and any information on cinder and anyone she's connected to and if I find any leads we go and find them under the guise of a 'mission'. You understand?" Ruby then nodded her head alongside the rest of RNJR. "will you help Leo?" Qrow turned to Lionheart who sighed and gripped the bridge of his nose. "alright I shall enrol them as a team but they are your responsibility Qrow" he said which Qrow nodded in response. "I'll also need you to, 'accommodate' them as well" Qrow added. "of course, Qrow I'll have my assistant show them their room once I find a suitable one for them" Qrow then left the room with RNJR following behind him as he left the building.

"you sure, about this Qrow?" Jaune asked. "yeah kid don't you worry about me" Qrow said taking a sip of his drink. After a while a young woman came out of the building and approached them. "excuse me team RNJR?" She asked. "that's us" Ren responded. "please come with me and we'll get you set up with your dorm!" She said in an enthusiastic tone. "you kids go on im gonna get something else to drink ill find you guys later" Qrow spoke up and started walking off in the other direction after waving off the team.

The assistant led them to the place that would become their dorm. "well here it is!" She said with a smile as she opened the door to reveal a large room with an upstairs section. "are you sure this is ours " Nora spoke up. "yes. Headmaster Lionheart personally picked this out for you" the assistant answered. "well we shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth" Jaune stated. RNJR then entered the room and surveyed the accommodation. "Combat tests start tomorrow, but you don't have to participate but you can attend to watch the other students and you won't be needing to participate in the partner finding task so you can do what you like, I would recommend visiting the library." RNJR nodded and the assistant left closing the door behind her.

 _Elsewhere on the campus_

Qrow was sitting at a bar drinking his drink minding his own business when a voice took him out of his own thoughts. "excuse me" a shy voice came from behind him causing him to turn around. It was some kid. "ya know I don't think they allow kids in here, pipsqueak." He said in a slurred voice. The kid just stood there. "shut up I'm getting there!" He near enough shouted at himself. Qrow just looked at him confused. "um, I'm supposed to tell you, I'd like my cane back?" He said looking like he was just as confused as Qrow, whom looked surprised at the statement. Qrow then nodded and stood up. He then pulled out the hilt of the cane and spoke "it's good to see you again Oz" he then chucked the cane at the kid who caught it and the rest of the cane extended in his hand.

 **To be continued...**


	6. arrival

We are the crusaders! Arrival

It was a sunny, yet cold, day and Salvador was taking in the sights of Mistral city. he was currently wearing a sleeveless denim jacket to semi-protect him from the cold that had a patch on the right side that bore a crest of some kind.

The trek up to Haven was a long one. Sal's legs were now starting to ache as he passed the point where there were no buildings on the way up to Haven, just rocky paths and grasslands. The place just felt natural, like he could just sit on the grass and just enjoy a good set of comics.

Sal's peace would not last long however as he heard the roaring of an engine closing in on him. Turning around he spotted someone with a tropical shirt on a motorcycle closing in on him at rapid speeds. Sal quickly sidestepped as the motorcycle just barely rushed by him, the rider not paying any attention to Sal as he passed by. "Asshole!" Sal shouted not expecting to reach the ears of the rider. He just shook his head and continued on.

Sal approached the guards and flashed his ID, which he received in the mail just this last week, and entered the grounds. The Academy grounds were teeming with life. Students were conversing, some were training on the test dummies while some were showing off their weapons, mostly boys showing off their weapons to girls in an attempt to impress them.

But Sal simply admired the intricacies of designs of the different buildings. They seemed so elegant compared to the place he was raised. Everything felt so new and fresh, in all honesty Sal was incredibly excited. Whilst Sal was taking in the view he failed to notice someone in his path. With a comical crash he walked into the figure knocking them both over with an 'oof!'. "oh, geez I'm so sorry! I should have looked where I was going!" Sal said rubbing his back, eyes closed. "it's okay, no worries!" An upbeat female voice responded. Sal opened his eyes to the most beautiful pair of silver eyes he had ever seen. "I-uh... sorry" he apologised again causing her to chuckle lightly. They both stood up and dusted themselves off as he noticed she dropped something. Picking it up he noticed it was a comic book "good choice" he complemented as he handed it back to her. "thanks" she said with an adorable smile, Sal couldn't help but smile back. "so are you a student here" she asked. "yeah, I am!" He said stumped as to what to say next.

After a slight awkward silence, they heard someone call out. "Ruby!" a tall blond guy, hardly older than Sal himself came up to them both. "hey why'd you go speeding off for?" He said slightly out of breath. "sorry I just wanted to check out the library to see if they had any cool comics. "alright sorry we just thought something was up when you rushed out like that, who's this?" The blond guy asked now looking at Sal. "I just met him we crashed into each other just now" she said causing Sal to wear a sheepish smile on his face whilst rubbing the back of his head, "yeah sorry again" he said. The blond guy then spotted the crest on Sal's jacket and went wide eyed slightly and then spoke up, "are you a part of the steel family?" He asked Sal. "yes, I am. why?" Sal asked in return causing the girl to ask, "steel family? Who's that?" This caused the blond guy to turn to her " the steel family is a family of incredible hunters and huntresses, they were known rivals to the arc family back in the day but they went under the radar not long before I was born, so I just heard stories about them"

"wow they must have been awesome huh?" The girl chirped making Sal smile, "they were." He said. "sooo can I get your name Mr steel?" She asked nicely. Sal chuckled "sure thing, it's Salvador but you can call me Sal" he said putting out his hand. "I'm Ruby Rose, nice to meet'cha" she said with a large smile, shaking Sal's hand which was notably much smaller than his own. "and I'm Jaune Arc." The blond guy piped up also shaking Sal's hand. "well I better go, got a library to find after all, hope we meet again! See ya Sal!" She said walking away whilst waving. Sal gave a slight wave to her and continued on his way. Suddenly he was even more excited to be a part of Haven Academy

Zack was riding through the city of mistral, quite recklessly at that splashing rain water all over pedestrians as he raced past, not hearing their curses as he was currently blasting hard rock music through his earphones. Eventually he came to the long climb up to Haven but being on a motorcycle it wasn't a problem for him. Seeing an opportunity, he kicked into gear and increased his speed immensely to get up there even faster.

Eventually he saw someone in the distance the person was wearing a sleeveless denim jacket. Not even bothering to slow down or swerve past him, Zack just continued on his way assuming the person would move out of the way, which he did. Zack continued on his way only sparing a glance at the person as he did so, not hearing the person say "Asshole!" In the distance.

Zack Finally made it the illustrious academy. Leaving his motorcycle parked in the indoor parking lot. He made his way to the front gate and with a brief flash of his ID he entered the academy grounds but not before hearing one of the guard's mutter "don't cause any trouble" but Zack decided to ignore it as nothing could sour his good mood... *thud!* someone had just barged into him with some force, this slightly angered Zack "whoa, watch it, Dickhead!" He shouted at the guy who just barged past him causing him to turn around slightly, he had scruffy black hair was wearing a black hoodie that had green and white lining. He just huffed and continued on his way. Zack just pinched the bridge of his nose deciding it would be better to not cause a scene.

Zack continued on his search for a very specific place he read was on the academy's grounds. Before he knew it, he found what he was looking for, it was the bar. Zack then entered with a smirk. He looked around there were only three people in the bar at the moment the barkeep and an older man clad in grey with a large sword on his back talking to some kid that looked like he wasn't even old enough to be in the academy let alone in a bar like this. He ignored it and walked up to the bar leaning over the bar with one arm. "I'll need to see some ID" the bar keep said. Zack flashed his ID and the bar keep nodded "what can I get you?" The barkeep asked. "you do daiquiris?"

Finnian finally made it to the Haven front gate. He showed his ID to the guards and proceeded in to find the grounds filled with life, so many people were conversing around him and some people made derogatory comments towards him about his appearance and his posture. _"just ignore them"_ his more focused voice told him sharply. "yeah" Finnian replied putting his hood up and speeding up slightly with his head down. _"we should be glad we finally got here"_ the other voice spoke. "you're right" Finnian responded not looking where he was going. *thud!* _"the fuck?"_ Finnian thought. "whoa, watch it, dickhead!" It was someone his age maybe slightly older by a couple of months. He was around the same height as him and the most defining trait of his look was the yellow tropical shirt. Finnian just huffed, turning around and proceeding on.

Finnian searched through the Academy grounds checking out the different aspects of the campus until he found something that suited his fancy, the library. _"planning on doing a touch of reading?"_ the focused voice spoke followed by the other voice _"never took you for much of a bookworm"_ he said sarcastically "shut up" Finnian told the other voice as he entered the library

Looking through each aisle for a book to read not noticing a pair of eyes trained on him as he searched the aisles. He finally found a book that peaked his interest by the looks of it, the book was a mystery/thriller which Finnian figured he might like. Sitting down he began to read.

 _"this is actually quite interesting"_ the focused voice said actually, interested in the book. _"I'm sooo booorreeed! Can we fight something soon?"_ The other voice complained. "stop being a baby, we can't fight in an academy unless supervised so you'll just have to wait until then." Finnian mumbled, under his breath. _"but that's gonna take so long! I can't wait that long to fight. Why did you even bother to come here in the first place?"_ The other voice continued to complain. _"I suggest you keep your mouth shut. We won't be engaging in anything for at least a day or two, so keep quiet"_ the more focused voice told the other voice. _"Why don't you shut the hell up! I wasn't talking to you!"_ The other voice retorted. _"why should I shut up. You were the one interrupting!"_ the focused voice raised his voice at the other voice making Finnian become agitated. "would the pair of you shut up!" Finnian almost shouted at that last part causing people to pay attention to him. Finnian just put his hood up in response to this and looked down in embarrassment.

His outburst had caused a lot of attention from people in the library including someone who already had their eye on him from the moment he stepped foot in the library. The person then decided to approach him. Finnian was reading his book still embarrassed by his outburst when in the very top of his vision he could see someone approaching him. He sighed, closed his book and pulled his hood down looking up to see a girl had approached him. Finnian raised an eyebrow as she took a seat on the other side of the table and smiled at him. she had dark violet eyes and chin-length dark-blue hair with her short bangs perfectly framing her head.

"Hello!" She spoke to him maintaining her smile, causing Finnian to become slightly confused. "hello" He said still confused as to why she was talking to him in the first place. "you seem like someone who could use a friend in this place" she told him making him even more confused. "what makes you think I need friends here?" Finnian asked. "we all need friends even me... Look let's cut the crap, I can help you and you could help me. We all need a partner in this academy, don't we? And I know what the partner assigning challenge entails" she said pointing her thumb at herself and smirking. This peaked Finnian's interest, "what do you mean you know what the partner assigning challenge entails?" He asked leaning forward slightly. "I found out that the challenge involves us going into a set of Grimm infested catacombs on the other side of the city and we have to find a partner and escape the catacombs by finding one of many orbs scattered around the catacombs and taking them to the centre where we can find a weakened high-level Grimm there." She almost whispered. "how can you possibly know all this?" Finnian asked. "I have my ways" she smirked. "well do we have a deal? Partner?" She asked standing up and extending her hand to Finnian. Finnian paused not knowing if what she said was true. Then the focused voice spoke _"I think you should take the deal. If what she said was true then you could have a valuable partner on your hands"_ he said _. "I'm gonna agree, you should take the deal."_ The other voice said

Finnian felt like he had to take the deal. He stood up and shook her hand noting how small she was compared to him. She had to be at least nearly a whole foot shorter than him. "I'll take the deal" he said. All of a sudden, she came uncomfortably close to his face climbing on top of the table to do so. "listen when we start everyone will be facing north as we get dropped into the catacombs so head to the very south east of the catacombs and meet me there." She then got off the table. "by the way am Giselle, Giselle Gabrielli!" She said. "Finnian Thorn" he responded. "see you around Finn" she said walking off out of sight. Finnian looked at the book he was reading, "suddenly I don't feel like reading anymore" he said closing the book and putting it bac where he found it, maybe he would come back and finish it but his mind was too focused on what Giselle said.

Finnian then started to leave as he opened the door he bumped into some one. It was a girl with black and red hair this time. "oh sorry!" She said apologetically. Finnian huffed and stood aside for the girl and her friend to walk past "geez Ruby how many people are you gonna bump into people today?" Her friend said. "I said I was sorry!" Finnian heard her gripe in the distance. Finnian didn't seem to care about bumping into her as his mind was elsewhere.

Suddenly he was far more interested in what Haven had to offer.


	7. big day ahead of us

We are the crusaders! "big day ahead of us"

The sun had finally set and all of the new students had been informed via their scrolls that they would be sleeping in the great hall in order to best get to know each other before the first trial.

The great hall was mostly quiet as some of the students were starting to get to sleep but one of the corners of the great hall was rather noisy.

Salvador was quite close to the ruckus and had his arm draped over his eyes before he peaked his eye out to look at his scroll. He glanced at his scroll and sighed and loosened his arms in an attempt to go back to sleep.

The source of the chatter however came from none other than Zack himself, whom was chatting up a few girls. "...and that's when I curb stomped that bitch's head through the chair!" he pretty much shouted with a laugh causing the girls around him to start giggling. One of the girls then spoke up "hey I've been wondering why don't you wear a shirt to bed?" She asked blushing while staring at his well-defined body. Zack chuckled "it feels more comfortable to sleep without one on" he said with an arrogant smile whilst she blushed even more and turned her head away from him to try and hide it. Another girl looked at his left forearm and noticed a scar that seemed to make a complete ring around his arm, "hey um, what happened to your arm? you have a huge scar" she asked him. Zack just looked straight ahead for a few seconds before responding, "had surgery on my arm going back years ago nothing too crazy" he said without his usual cocky demeanour.

Sal sighed and sat up ready to try and talk to the guy making all that noise when someone was already making his way to him. He was tall with shaggy black hair.

Finnian was pissed off. That was clearly evident by the scowl on his face. He was trying to sleep and some asshole was creating so much noise he could hardly hear the voices in his head.

 _"it would be unwise to make a scene"_ the calmer voice stated. "Tough! I'm going to give him a piece of my mind!" He told the voice with an assertive tone.

He practically stomped his way over to the source of the noise and stopped right in front of the guy, staring down at him. _"oh, I remember this guy! he's the guy you barged into earlier, I remember him calling you a dickhead"_ his brash voice pointed out the obvious.

Zack was conversing with the girls when he saw someone storming towards him "I remember him, that's the ass that stormed into me earlier, looks like he's mad about something".

Zack stood to be level with the guy and after a brief moment of awkward silence he spoke up "how can I help ya big guy" he said with a smirk.

This guy's arrogant aura was pissing Finnian off even more with a slight growl he decided to respond. "you need to shut your mouth some people are trying to sleep".

Zack stepped closer to him. "oh yeah? What're ya gonna do about it?" He said brushing some dirt from the floor off the guy's shoulder. This just made him even more pissed off.

All of a sudden Finnian headbutted Zack with incredible force knocking him flat on his ass. "Did your mother raise you to be such an arrogant prick!?" He shouted causing everyone in the great hall to look towards them. As soon as he said that Zack launched up and punched Finnian across the jaw in blinding speed.

Finnian was sent reeling back surprised. "such speed!" He thought to himself. _"clearly he is a formidable foe I suggest you stay patient and act defensively"_ his calm voice suggested. _"fuck that! You need to play more aggressive than him!"_ His brash voice enthusiastically suggested as Finnian barely blocked another punch.

Zack was delivering fast punches each of them landing in places that Finnian wasn't fast enough to block. Finnian attempted to swing a few times but Zack dodged and blocked each and every one of them.

"what's the matter? Can't handle the heat?" Zack taunted whilst throwing a more punches. _"now!"_ Finnian's calm voice commanded and he took advantage delivering a heavy right hook pushing Zack backwards a little bit.

Zack retaliates with a fast spin kick to Finnian's side which Finnian immediately blocked and countered with a kick to the stomach, knocking the wind out of Zack leaving him open for more attacks.

Finnian hit him with a right hook then a left and kept repeating for a few seconds until Zack blocked a right hook and delivered a huge uppercut which, in turn, knocked Finnian on his ass and Zack near enough punted Finnian in the face and proceeded to punch him while he was down.

It was at this point the other students started to cheer on the fight, quite loudly in fact. Finnian used his left leg to push Zack off of him and stood up. Both their faces were bloody yet they were still focused on each other, they then started to circle each other, looking for any openings or signs of getting tired.

They then stopped circling each other and went in for one final blow until...

The giant doors swung open to reveal headmaster Lionheart and a few other teachers were standing there at the door. "you two! Stop this at once!" Lionheart commanded at the top of his lungs. This made them stop in their tracks yet not keeping their eyes off the other. "this is not the time nor the place to be fighting each other! Both of you clean yourselves in SEPERATE restrooms and then get some sleep there is a big day ahead of us and I will not have my students fight like this before the first proper day at Haven!"

Zack and Finnian walked in opposite directions.

Zack spotted the girls he was talking to and just took a bow and said, "sorry ladies perhaps we can continue this chat another day" he said with a smirk and the girls returned to their own places in the great hall.

Finnian was weaving through the students on his way to the other restroom. "damn it I almost had 'em" he thought to himself _"it seemed more like a stale mate to me"_ the calm voice pointed out _"yeah, looked like you were getting your ass handed to you back there!"_ "shut up!" Finnian retorted. In the corner of his eye he happened to spot Giselle sitting up looking at him with a smirk. She noticed him looking at her and gave a mock applause. Finnian just huffed and walked on to the restroom.

Once Zack and Finnian were finished they spared each other a brief death stare and returned to their places and eventually fell asleep like everyone else.

 **To be continued.**


	8. preparation

We are the crusaders: preparation.

Today was the day of the official initiation task according to rumour the original initiation task has been discontinued in favour of another and a lot of the students were extremely anxious because of this. All except Finnian, he was preparing himself for the trial thinking back to what Giselle said about the initiation trial. "abandoned catacombs? Seriously?" He thought as he was tying the laces for his combat boots before standing up to put his shirt on. _"it does seem rather odd that they would choose the abandoned catacombs for the initiation"_ the calm voice stated _"hey at least we have some idea what we're getting ourselves into"_ his brash voice added. "and if she's lying?" Finnian replied. _"then we look out for ourselves. But if she is telling the truth then we should listen to what she told us and head over to where she told us to meet her"_ the brash voice replied. Finnian just shrugged and put his body armour over his shirt before zipping up his hoodie over that. "well we'll just have to wait and see won' we?" He said fitting his gauntlets over his wrists and walking out the door.

Salvador was tightening his belt thinking about the initiation trial. "I wonder what it is they're gonna make us do" he wondered as he put on his shirt. After a while he looked at himself in the changing room mirror. He was wearing dark green light armour hooded jacket with red lining and similarly coloured trousers with kneepads over them and dark green combat boots. He then decided it was time to get going so he reached over and grabbed an attaché case and put it on the table in the changing room he then took a key out from his duffel bag and put it in the lock on the case and then opened it up to see two curved swords one of them had a basket shaped guard and the other had a slightly skinnier handle. "patience and time. It's been a while huh?" He smirked as he grabbed them both and then fitted the smaller handled sword into the handle of the basket guarded sword twisted it until he heard a click. He then gazed at the crescent shaped weapon he just formed. "and now it's time for destiny's song!" He then held the weapon vertically in front of him. He then breathed in and then a bowstring appeared. Sal then pulled back on the bowstring and as he pulled it back an arrow projected from his aura materialised. But instead of releasing the arrow he dematerialised the arrow pulled apart the weapon and strapped them onto his belt and proceeded to make his way to the designated meeting place he needed to be before they start the trial.

As Sal made his way through the academy he noticed other students in their combat attire and holding their weapons. He was intrigued to see various types of weapons ranging from swords to axes to even staves. "wow all these weapons are so cool!" He thought to himself giddy with excitement. He was so distracted in his own thoughts he didn't notice someone come up behind him. "oh, hey Salvador! How ya' doing?" A high-pitched voice piped up behind him taking him out of his trance. Sal turned around to see the silver eyes he was quite familiar with, "hm? Oh, heya Ruby what's up?" He asked ignoring the fact that she asked first. Ruby beamed at him "nothing much just checking out all these cool weapons the students have!" She said squealing slightly. "yeah they're all pretty neat" Sal responded looking around at the other students. Ruby then sized him up a little. "might I say looking cool Sal! You look like a super hero!" She told him before getting a little embarrassed confusing Sal. "hm? Is something he matter Ruby?" He asked. "nothing really its just... CANISEEYOURWEAPONSPLEASE?!" She said that last part extremely fast whilst pointing at his weapons, but Sal understood and chuckled. "of course, you can!"

Sal pulled out his weapons, "these are called patience and time!" He gave them both a little twirl. Ruby was now ecstatic "can they transform?!" She asked barely containing her excitement. "obviously!" He said as he fused the swords together. "I call this form 'Destiny's song' it becomes a bow in this form" he said as he manifested the bowstring and the arrow before firing the arrow at a nearby tree without looking. "OHMYGOSHTHAT'SSOCOOL!" Ruby near enough screamed before getting a closer look at the weapon "it's so simple yet so effective. Do you create the arrow with your aura? How long have you had the weapon? Did you make it?" She asked these questions rapid fire. Sal answered them with ease however, "uh, yes I do make the arrow with my aura, I've had the weapon for about 4 years now, but I had the concept for most my life, and finally yes I did make it myself although I did have guidance from my grandmother who was a smithy in her time" "WOW! That's super cool!" Ruby chimed.

Sal then put his weapons away and spoke up. "So, how come you don't have your weapon? The trial is in a few hours." He asked but Ruby just shrugged, "I'm a special case I don't need to do the trial 'cause I'm already a part of a team" this statement confused Sal, 'how can she already have a team?' he thought to himself but in the end, he decided to let it go. "Well, all right then" he huffed slightly and turned a little then waved to Ruby "well I better get going want to get there early to get some warm ups before we start. See ya!" he said walking off waving to her "see ya Sal! Kick some butt!" she called to him as he disappeared into the sea of people.

Zack was currently in one of the locker rooms prepping for the initiation trial. He wasn't particularly excited for this however ass he didn't particularly enjoy the last initiation trial he was a part of, finding it extremely tedious and strenuous. Either way he had to do one again none-the-less. He huffed in annoyance before slipping into a new, darker, pair of jeans and flexing in the mirror with a smirk "lookin' good Zack, lookin' good". Once he was done checking himself out he strapped a bowie knife to the back of his belt but stopped for a second and thought to himself, looking at his hand, 'should I?... nope! Never again...' He clenched his fist then slid a black vest over his body. He the fitted a very dark blue shirt over his body leaving it completely unbuttoned a usual. He then rolled his sleeves up and began to tape his hands and wrists. Satisfied he put his stuff in his locker put his dog tag on and exited the locker room.

He started to walk through the campus checking out the other students' weapons and armor but in truth he was mostly checking out what the girls were wearing. 'wow there are some cuties here' he thought looking over to his right not looking where he was going until... *thud!*. Zack had just bumped into someone for the second time in two days. 'shit not again' he thought before he looked over to who he bumped into. It was a tall man, a few inches taller than himself. He had black hair with rough stubble and distinct red eyes. "sorry 'bout that, wasn't payin' attention" Zack said rubbing the back of his head with a slight smirk. The man then spoke up "relax kid, no harm done". Zack then gave a slight nod and started to walk past him, but the man put a hand on his shoulder "have we met somewhere?" The man said. "not that I can remember friend" he smirked at him and continued not looking back at the man whom he could feel staring at him. 'geez what's his problem?' He thought to himself walking to the designated location for the initiation trial.

Qrow was on his way to RNJR's dorm, having a hunch as to the location of the next maiden. 'If raven really does have the maiden this could mean trouble' he thought to himself. He was lost in his own thoughts when someone bumped into him. It was a student, he had slightly long black hair and was slightly shorter than him he then looked him in the eyes, his eyes... wait a minute. "sorry 'bout that, wasn't payin' attention." He said snapping Qrow out of his thoughts. "relax kid, no harm done." The kid nodded and started to walk past. Qrow put a hand on his shoulder. "have we met somewhere?" He asked. "not that I can remember friend" the kid responded and continued. Qrow was astonished he kept staring at the back of the student's head. 'I can't believe it he matches the description, and his eyes...'

'...he has silver eyes' Qrow needed to keep a close eye on him if he was correct about him.

 **To** **be continued**


End file.
